White dwarfs with a surface electrical charge distribution: Equilibrium and stability

TL;DR

This study explores how electric charge distribution affects the structure and stability of white dwarfs, revealing that significant charge can increase their mass and influence stability thresholds.

Contribution

It introduces a model of charged white dwarfs with surface charge distributions, analyzing their equilibrium and stability, and identifies conditions for stability related to charge effects.

Findings

Charged white dwarfs can reach masses around 2 solar masses.

Electric fields near the Schwinger limit significantly impact star mass and stability.

Maximum mass points indicate the onset of instability in charged configurations.

Abstract

The equilibrium configuration and the radial stability of white dwarfs composed of charged perfect fluid are investigated. These cases are analyzed through the results obtained from the solution of the hydrostatic equilibrium equation. We regard that the fluid pressure and the fluid energy density follow the relation of a fully degenerate electron gas. For the electric charge distribution in the object, we consider that it is centralized only close to the white dwarfs' surfaces. We obtain larger and more massive white dwarfs when the total electric charge is increased. To appreciate the effects of the electric charge in the structure of the star, we found that it must be in the order of $10^{20}\,[{\rm C}]$ with which the electric field is about $10^{16}\,[{\rm V/cm}]$. For white dwarfs with electric fields close to the Schwinger limit, we obtain masses around $2\,M_{\odot}$. We also found that in a system constituted by charged static equilibrium configurations, the maximum mass point found on it marks the onset of the instability. This indicates that the necessary and sufficient conditions to recognize regions constituted by stable and unstable equilibrium configurations against small radial perturbations are respectively $dM/d\rho_c>0$ and $dM/d\rho_c<0$.